


Beacon

by we_girls



Series: However Brief... [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Jet didn't see the tea, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:46:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28640955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/we_girls/pseuds/we_girls
Summary: Jet is dead. Zuko is with the Avatar and his friends, and is apparently committing treason now. But none of that matters because Jet is dead, even though Zuko shouldn't care, right?
Relationships: Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Jet & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: However Brief... [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2098749
Comments: 8
Kudos: 95





	1. I Found

**Author's Note:**

> This will only be a couple chapters! If you haven't read 'Smoke Signal', I recommend reading it if you want this to make sense.

_It was one of the rare days Pao’s Teashop was closed and Jet had immediately taken advantage of it, convincing Zuko to walk with him through the streets of the Lower Ring. It was his uncle, really, who had pushed him into it. “You need to get out more,” he said. He goes out plenty. Just usually at night. In a mask. With his swords._

_So, maybe he did need to go out more, but he refused to admit to anyone how nice the sun felt on his skin._

_“Enjoying the sun, Li?” Jet bumped into him, gently._

_Zuko glared at him, “No,” he snapped. Then cursed himself. Why couldn’t he have just said yes? Why’d he have to make himself seem like a complete asshole?_

_“Sure.” Jet grinned, “Let’s grab some food! Stay here, I’ll be right back.” He pushed Zuko onto a bench and jogged off to a nearby food stand._

_He watched him idly. It scared him sometimes. How Jet seemed to know what he was thinking. Was he that transparent? Or was it something just between them? He didn’t know. Sometimes, though, it was nice. He always struggled with words. They came out meaner, harsher than he meant them to. So, yeah. It was nice._

_Jet came back with two bowls of noodles. “Here, I managed to convince him to put extra spice in yours.”_

_Stunned, Zuko took it. “Th-thanks,” he managed to get out and tried to smile. From the way Jet’s face lit up, it worked. He always seemed to take it as some personal achievement. He took a bite of the noodles, sun soothing the itch to bend beneath his skin with Jet by his side –_

And woke up. There was something wet on his face. He reached a hand up and touched salty tears streaming down his face. “Oh,” he whispered. Then, he threw an arm over his eyes and tried to cry as silently as he could.

_______________

The next morning, Iroh approached him. “Are you okay, Prince Zuko?”

“Don’t call me that,” he hissed back. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Iroh clasped a hand onto his shoulder, “We all deal with loss in different ways, but denial will only hurt you in the end. You must grieve properly.”

He tensed and a quick grin, a tall figure with a mop of brown hair flashed to mind. He shook the hand from him. “There’s nothing _to_ grieve.” He stormed off, not knowing where he was going, just away. Behind him, he heard his uncle sigh.

_______________

After the Avatar went down in the crystal caverns beneath Ba Sing Se, they fled swiftly. Jet’s body was a cold, heavy weight in his arms the entire trip through the tunnels and even on the bison’s back. Smellerbee and Longshot sat on either side of him, both crying.

Zuko’s body felt too frozen to cry. “Shock,” his uncle explained to the rest of the group. He didn’t think he’d be able to unwrap his arms from Jet even if he tried. He kept thinking about the bison’s mournful cry when Zuko and the body came into view. He kept staring at Katara, healing Aang’s own cold body with spirit water. Water, she explained through tears, that could heal anything.

He tried to understand. Aang was the Avatar. He was obviously more important. Obviously. But...

Something fell from his eye, down onto Jet’s face below. His smiling face looked like it was crying, and Zuko broke.

_______________

He didn’t remember most of what happened next. He remembered his uncle coming to sit in front of him and hold his hands whiling murmuring nonsense that was meant to be soothing but only set him off more. He remembered being unable to breathe and the bison landing, somewhere outside of Ba Sing Se he assumed. A couple people got off, including Smellerbee and Longshot with Jet’s body.

He remembered her promising to bury him, somewhere that was still part of the Earth Kingdom.

The bison took off again. He must have fallen asleep against his uncle because that’s how he woke up. Next thing he knew, they were on ships with the Southern Water Tribe, planning for an invasion. His uncle was a hardy participant in it but Zuko couldn’t bring himself to care.

He tried firebending, once, when everyone was asleep because something felt wrong. The little bit of sun that resided in his chest felt dimmer, like it was suffocating under the weight of it’s own ashes. He tried and just a puff of smoke came out.

He really was broken.

_______________

When he confessed to his uncle that there was something wrong with him, he just nodded his head sadly.

“I had thought something like this might happen,” he said. “Prince Zuko, your fire is broken because you are no longer fueled by the anger you were so used to.”

It must have been true, even if he didn’t want to believe him, because he felt so fucking dead inside. Any show of anger was half-hearted and a front to the nothing he felt beneath.

While he was useless in firebending, someone somewhere managed to get ahold of some dao swords and they were given to him, where he promptly schooled anyone he could possibly goad into a fight with him.

_______________

He decided to participate in the invasion. It would be a small force, instead of full-scale as Iroh informed the rest of them that the Fire Nation kept track of solar events such as this and most likely expected some kind of attack. Azula knew, too, so they most definitely knew.

When they ran into his sister down in the bunkers, it wasn’t her face he saw – it was Jet’s. She was the reason he was dead. It was her fault.

He tried not to care, he really did, so he ran right past her down to the Firelord’s bunker and burst in. There he was. Sitting on his throne, looking as though he hadn’t a care in the world. As though he wasn’t worth the attention. Well, he was going to change that.

He stormed in, getting as close as he dared to, and declared to all present, “I’m going to become the next Firelord.”

Whatever shock the others felt was ignored in favor of his father’s enraged face and the lightning he shot at him, that he redirected back to his feet.

As they escape, Jet’s voice echoes in his head:

_“Become Firelord. For me, okay?"_


	2. White Blood

The first thing Zuko thought when they reached the Western Air Temple was, ‘ _Jet would have a field day with this._ ’ That was the wrong thing to think because it immediately put him in a bad mood, noticeable to the others.

Speaking of the others, his relationship with them was strained. Katara was handling him with kids gloves and Aang was confused as to why he was still sad. Toph treated him normally and Sokka…didn’t really talk to him. The others avoided him, which he thought was good because whenever he saw The Duke something in his chest stared to ache.

Did he know, he thought, that Jet had missed him? He almost told him once, but the kid had burst into tears when he found out Jet had died.

Honestly, he hated himself for being torn up about this. It’s been months. Everybody else was already over it so why the fuck couldn’t he just get over it? He still had dreams that woke him up, crying, so he had to take a room to himself to save the others from the embarrassment of seeing it. He was already mortified they saw him break down on the bison.

_______________

It was a cold night the next time he woke up with tears streaming down his face. He noticed the chill immediately but decided to go for a walk anyway. He wasn’t going to be able to fall back asleep.

He stepped softly past the group and walked to one of the edges of the temple. He could see far, far below, and when he breathed his breath was visible. He sat down and flicked his wrist, lighting a small fire to cup between his hands. It was all he could manage. His face hovered above it and he savored the warmth.

Jet was never able to learn to appreciate fire. He only knew its death and destruction, the ashes and embers it left behind. Zuko never got to tell him about the dragons breathing the first flame, about Agni’s blessings, or tales of phoenixes rising from the ashes. He died still afraid.

“Want company?”

Zuko jerked, startled, and the flame in his hands flared. He twisted around. Sokka stood there, hair down and a mess. He looked older with his hair down. “I’m good.”

“Well, I’m gonna sit anyway.” He did so as Zuko huffed in annoyance. “Are you thinking about him?”

He tensed, “Who?”

“Jet. He was your best friend, right?”

“He wasn’t-“, Zuko protested but then stopped. Thought of what Jet’s reaction would be if he heard that. He could practically see the crestfallen expression. He sighed. “He was my only friend. My first friend.”

“I can’t believe Jet managed to befriend a firebender.”

“He was working on being better. He already knew I was fire nation. He asked me if I was a bender.” That was a memory Zuko did not treasure. Jet having a panic attack in his arms.

“It must be hard.”

“I’m fine,” he answered quickly.

Sokka laughed, “Yeah, sure.” They sit in silence for a couple minutes. “I lost someone I loved, too. Her name was Yue.” He looked up at the moon with a sad, wistful expression so intimate that it made Zuko look away. 

“I didn’t love him.”

Sokka looked at him and gently said, “Love doesn’t have to be just romantic. It can be familial or platonic.”

‘ _Oh_ ,’ he thought. Oh. Something – something in that statement made his chest hurt. Was that what he felt with Jet, for Jet? That’s what that resounding warmth was? It was something that hovered in his chest, not deeply rooted like his fire. It was beautiful. And sad. God, it made him so sad.

Unbidden, tears shot to his eyes. An arm curled around his shoulders and he let himself fall, just this once, into him as he cried.

_______________

The next day, Aang and him went to see the dragons. There aren’t many words to describe the experience, but he thinks it’s the first time he’s smiled in a long, long time.

_______________

It was the day of his coronation and the crowds cheered below him. It was exhilarating. He smiled and waved and caught sight of a figure standing at the edge of the crowd, watching him. They were all watching him, so it shouldn’t be that unusual, but something made him pause. The mismatched armor and mop of brown hair, that stupid wheat stalk.

Jet waved and then disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. :)


End file.
